"620,000 Ghost Coins Had No Substance" Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Urges a Comprehensive Investigation of Exchanges
"620,000 Ghost Coins Had No Substance" Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Urges a Comprehensive Investigation of Exchanges
"Market disruption by 'phantom coins' on the books... Cost-cutting ended up amplifying systemic risk"
The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) has characterized Bithumb’s unprecedented “₩60 trillion Bitcoin miscrediting incident” as not a mere clerical error but a “structural disaster” born of opaque trading structures in the virtual asset market. Likening the incident to the securities industry’s chronic problem of illegal naked short selling, the group called on financial authorities to conduct high-intensity inspections across the entire industry, a move expected to have far-reaching repercussions.
On the 10th, CCEJ issued a statement sharply criticizing the case as “the first instance in which weak internal controls combined with opaque collateral management pushed the entire market to the brink of a crash.” Previously, Bithumb acknowledged that an employee error led to the erroneous crediting of Bitcoin, creating ledger balances worth about ₩60 trillion, an incident that exposed the stark reality of “book-entry trading” conducted without actual holdings.
◇ “Trading only on ledgers without real assets... ‘phantom coins’ trigger market collapse”
CCEJ identified the core cause of the incident as the practice of “self-entered manual ledger trading.” The allegation is that the exchange issued and paid out fictitious “phantom coins” that existed only as digital numbers, without securing 100% physical backing in domestic reserves for Bitcoin issued overseas.
CCEJ warned that “without transparent digital balance management throughout issuance and settlement, post-incident tracking by authorities becomes virtually impossible, creating fatal gaps in user protection.”
◇ “Trying to save costs fueled the fire... Repeating securities firms’ manual-trading risks”
In particular, CCEJ linked the incident to the problem of illegal short selling in the stock market. Just as many securities firms delay adopting fully automated, integrated balance-management systems to cut costs and instead rely on manual entry—leading to naked short-selling accidents—crypto exchanges likewise allowed outdated systems to persist, exacerbating the damage.
CCEJ stressed that “financial authorities must not confine this incident to Bithumb alone,” urging a comprehensive probe of all virtual asset exchanges into opaque collateral management and poor operational practices. It also emphasized that the upcoming second phase of virtual asset legislation scheduled for this year must include fundamental institutional reforms that enforce user protection and internal controls.
Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and no responsibility is assumed for any investment losses incurred based on it. The content should be interpreted solely for informational purposes.
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